Abstract:Tobacco curly shoot virus (TbCSV), isolated from tobacco plants in Yunnan Province, is a distinct species of Begomovirus in the family Geminiviridae and causes serious leaf curl disease on tomato and tobacco plants. TbCSV/DNAβ disease complex is different from the other reported begomovirus/satellite disease complexes in many aspects including the pathogenicity of viral DNA-A and the characteristics of association with helper virus and the role in regulating symptom of DNAβ. The studies on the origin and evolution of the TbCSV indicated this virus may represent an evolutionary intermediate between the DNAβ requiring begomoviruses and the truly monopartite begomoviruses. Therefore, the studies on the evolution of TbCSV/DNAβ disease complex have great significance in understanding of the mechanism of genetic evolution of begomovirus/satellite disease complexes. In the present review, the distribution and damages, genomic structure, associated small DNA molecules and interactions of the molecular components, and origin and evolution of the TbCSV/DNAβ complex are discussed.